More than $78m to be spent on Gisborne’s cyclone-damaged roads in next three years

Council contractors will be ramping up work on culverts, slips, dropout repairs and drainage across the region. Pictured is existing slip repair work on Mangatu Road.

Gisborne District Council says there will be “significant” contractor activity on local roads as a $78 million-plus recovery programme ramps up.

This will include more than 370 slip and dropout repairs, 87 culvert replacements and hundreds of kilometres of drainage upgrades across more than 145 rural roads.

The two major Government-funded work programmes will cover more than 600 cyclone-damaged sites over the next three years, excluding bridges.

The first of the two is a $27m, three-phase programme of works called the Iwi Prioritised Community Projects, administered by National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (NIFF).

The programme will focus on improving the resilience of alternative evacuation routes identified by iwi and community stakeholders.

The first phase includes improvements on routes such as the Mata, Ihungia, Waimata Valley, Wharekopae and Whakarau roads and connecting routes. The second and third phases are being scheduled into packages for tender to local contractors.

“We must acknowledge the role of iwi leaders in securing this funding for our rural communities as well as community stakeholders for their involvement in identifying and prioritising sites for repair,” Tim Barry, the council’s director of lifelines, said in a statement.

The other Government-funded work programme, also administrated by NIFF, was $51m for slips and dropouts to address the most complex and high-priority dropout sites across the region.

It is the fourth and largest phase of dropout repairs since Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.

Almost 100 slips and dropouts have been repaired to date.

Barry said further repairs could not come soon enough for rural communities and the local economy.

“These repairs will go a long way to improve the safety and connectivity for local people and industry who use these roads every day,” he said.

Barry said a specialist contractor panel had been established to complete the most complex works.

“Work is already under way on specific sites and packages of work are being prepared for tender to the panel.”

Barry estimated in October last year that the total cost of the slip and dropout programme would be about $60m over three years.